Useful Internet Programs


Here are some computer programs that I use. There are others out there that do similar things but these can serve as starting points for those of you with Windows 95 machines (there are similar programs for the Mac and I've tried to indicate these where I could).

Questions? E-mail c-merkel@students.uiuc.edu


What's on this Page? (Under Construction)



Programs I Use

Function Program Name Why I Use it Other Options Where to get it
browser Netscape Navigator Gold
  • Personal preference - prefer it over Microsoft's Internet Explorer (the feel of the program, the way it handles downloads, the helper applications)
  • Has a homepage editor built in (the Gold version) which makes it easy to create and edit documents
  • Can be downloaded for free for people involved in an education institution
  • Widely used and accepted
  • Has a browser to look at newsgroups
  • Microsoft's Internet Explorer
  • Mosaic
Program to Handle Zip files Win Zip
  • Many programs available on the internet are only available in zip format (this means they have been compressed to make them smaller when you try to download)
  • zip files end in .zip and cannot be used until they are expanded with a program like Win Zip

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WinZip: Download Page
telnet program SimpTerm
  • Free Telnet program
  • Let's you connect to your student account from your home computer
NCSA's Telnet Program The SimpTerm Home Page
ftp program Cute FTP
  • Shareware program but I think there may be some beta programs out there that do not expire
  • Stores the sites that you typically go to along with passwords
  • Lets you manipulate the files on your student account without having to use Unix commands
  • Automatically handles the transfer of binary and text files
For the Mac Fetch is a Useful program Cute FTP for Windows 95

Aaron Masters' Winsock Warehouse - Mac - File Transfer Apps

E-mail Program Eudora
  • One of the best e-mail programs
  • You can set up the program up to constantly check your mail when you are on-line and have it running in the background while you do other things
  • Allows you to sort mail
  • Allows you to save mail in different folders
  • Allows you to have different signature files
  • Makes it really easy to do attachments (100 times easier than in Pine)
  • Has a built in ftp program when you use the publish button
  • Allows you to upload all the files in a directory at one time (graphics along with html pages)
  • Nice address book
  • There is an e-mail program with Netscape Navigator Gold
  • There is an e-mail program with Office 97 that is nice because you can use the Microsoft Word as your text editor
  • There is an e-mail program on Windows 95
  • You can get this from the computer site at DCL (U of I students can get the full version). You'll need your id card and two disks
  • Download the light version that has fewer features at QUALCOMM Homepage
  • The program is available at CCSO sites but the downside is that you can not save the e-mail messages
HTML editor - WYSIWYG (like a word processor where you don't need to do any coding) Netscape Navigator Gold
  • I usually start many of my documents in this type of editor & do more advanced stuff in a text editor
  • you can have your own set of pages on your computer, create links between pages that you have created, and then upload them to your student account
  • easy to add graphics, change colors, change size of text, add links by dragging the site to your page rather than typing link info, etc.
  • Free
  • Microsoft's Front Page
  • Download from Netscape
  • Many of the CCSO sites have these alternate editors including Navigator Gold
HTML editor - text editor Arachnophilia
  • WYSIWYG editors can't do everything - you have more control with a text editor
  • Free
  • Can handle tables and frames
  • Will convert tables saved in Word in rich text format to an html version (not always perfect but saves a lot of time)
  • Will convert a document from Word in rich text format to an html version
  • Hot Dog
  • Hot Metal
Arachnophilia Home Page

Hot Dog Editor - Sausage Software Home Page- (32 bit version there is a charge to use the program)

Hot Metal Editor - SoftQuad (Standard version free but fewer features than the pro version)

Image Map Generator (those pictures that you can click on to navigate a site) Map This
  • Free program that will create image maps

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Animated Gif Creator Gif Construction Kit
  • Creates simple animated graphics
  • Free

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Microsoft GIF Animator

GIF Builder for Mac

Sound Plug in for Netscape Real Audio
  • Allows you to hear audio on the internet
  • You don't have to download an entire audio clip but it will steam the audio
  • A lot quicker

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Can be downloaded from Download RealPlayer and some sites that use real audio can be found at
Add ons to Microsoft Programs Internet Assistant for Word, Powerpoint, Excel
  • Various Add ons to programs that will allow you to for example put a powerpoint presentation on the web

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Microsoft Products Menu
Add on to Netscape for Quick Time Video Quicktime
  • Let's you download movies in the quick time format and view them on your computer
  • Have Versions for Windows and Mac environments

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Apple QuickTime Home
Manipulate Graphics Photoshop
  • Lets you convert a scanned graphic into a gif or jpeg file format
  • You can create your own graphics
  • You can manipulate the color, texture, etc of a picture or graphic
Paint Shop Pro is a reltively inexpensive program to buy for your own computer and can some things that Photoshop can (you still will need to scan the pictures in at a CCSO site unless you own a scanner) Photoshop is Available at many CCSO sites

Paintshop -Welcome to Jasc, Inc.


Good Places to Download and Find Programs On-line

SHAREWARE.COM -- the way to find shareware on the Internet

DOWNLOAD.COM -- Welcome

TUCOWS World Wide Affiliate Site Locations

TuDogs:Free Software, Graphics, Services

ZD Net - check out the downloads section

PC Magazine Online especially their downloads pagePC Magazine Online: The 1997 Utilities Guide (Downloads Page)

and for Mac Users:

Internet Interstate's Macintosh Web